Digital entertainment is undergoing a shake-up as digital games, social engagement, and immersive digital worlds become one, commonly referred to as the metaverse. Encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), blockchain economies, and user-created worlds, metaverse games are becoming a mainstay of the entertainment and technology industry. This change is being driven by companies pushing the boundaries of technology and redefining how users can play, interact, create, and even earn money in virtual worlds.
In 2026, the entire world will be interested in the immersive gaming ecosystem, and despite the looming economy-wide impact on spending on VR hardware, we will need to define the top developers in the space who will determine the direction of the industry. There are several companies that are notable for their influence and vision as early designers of engines and platforms that enable users to develop blockchain-based economies.
The name Roblox Corporation is one of the most recognizable names in Metaverse games to date. The platform has evolved from a children’s game creation engine to a large-scale virtual world with deep social interaction and commercial ecosystem. By providing a system of tools that allow users to build, publish, and commercialize their own immersive spaces across genres and virtually anywhere in the world, Roblox effectively positions everyone as a creator within a persistent metaverse. Its user-generated content model creates a broad platform where professional developers, as well as hobbyists and aspiring designers, can innovate.
Roblox has tens of millions of daily active users. The company was able to monetize this usage through cryptocurrencies, branded experiences, and collaborations with international brands. This winning combination of socialization, commerce, and creativity has made Roblox one of the key pillars of the Metaverse gaming world and one of the most powerful companies defining how virtual worlds are built and consumed.
Epic Games is the developer of Unreal Engine, which has become one of the leading frameworks for creating 3D immersive environments, and is behind some of the most visually breathtaking and technically ambitious virtual experiences. Aside from the blockbuster Fortnite, which also hosted virtual concerts and cross-platform events that reflected early ideas for the Metaverse, Unreal Engine has been the foundation for countless Metaverse gaming ventures, offering reliable graphics, real-time physics, and cross-platform compatibility.
Epic Games’ further focus on avatar technology and scalable virtual environments has made the game engine a fundamental part for other developers looking to bring AAA-style experiences and games to the Metaverse.
The technology can also be applied to large-scale events, social spaces, and other collaborative environments not necessarily tied to traditional games, combining entertainment with user-driven world creation.
Meta Platforms Inc., long one of the loudest believers in the Metaverse, changed its name as a strategic move to signal its entry into the virtual world. Meta, through its Reality Labs division and Horizon world platform, has been developing social VR experiences that allow users to communicate, create worlds, and share experiences through VR headsets.
Despite this, Meta investments are among the largest in the industry, although recent trends have been conservative. In late 2025 and early 2026, Meta revealed significant downsizing of its VR and Metaverse projects, including layoffs and closures of various VR game studios, including Armature Studio, which specializes in original VR games, and other VR game studios, a move that sparked mixed reactions. These actions signal a change in strategy as Meta balances continued development with broader market realities and a slower-than-expected uptake of certain VR experiences.
Despite these issues, continued investment in virtual worlds of VR hardware, avatar systems, and large-scale social environments maintains the meta’s relevance in metaverse discussions. This is especially where social interaction and digital identity collide.
A decentralized world: Experiences powered by sandboxes and blockchain
Outside of centralized platforms, blockchain-dependent Metaverse projects have established a niche in gaming ecosystems where ownership, economics, and player empowerment overlap.
An example of this is The Sandbox, one of the most popular. It is a virtual world that uses blockchain technology and focuses on user ownership. In-game items, avatars, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) allow players to own, trade, and earn money within The Sandbox games by purchasing virtual lands, items, and avatars.
This model stands in contrast to older gaming ecosystems that provided users with actual digital property rights, and has attracted creators, investors, and consumers looking to add more financial involvement to virtual worlds. The nature of this decentralized economy is rapidly defining the way immersive games are designed, with many projects looking to incorporate blockchain frameworks into core game experiences and developer tools.
Within the larger ecosystem of the Metaverse, miHoYo, a Chinese company operating internationally under the HoYverse brand, has achieved commercial success as well as a reputation for acclaimed games such as Genshin. HoYverse has not traditionally been considered a metaverse platform associated with Roblox or Sandbox, but it is growing into a huge world where plot richness, AI-based interactions, and cross-platform interactions collide.
HoYverse has studios and development centers in Singapore, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Asia, and is investing heavily in cloud computing, advanced artificial intelligence systems, and persistent world design, including future Metaverse game development. Its focus on integrating narrative and environment makes it a key player in a digital world-like experience rather than a standalone title.
In the metaverse space, not all leaders are traditional game developers. Improbable is a British technology company specializing in the provision of infrastructure technology that facilitates large-scale interconnected virtual spaces, an essential component of the real metaverse. Through projects like Project Morpheus and the MSquared interoperability network, Improbable is solving some of the toughest problems in metaverse development, including scale, interoperability, and blockchain integration.
Improbable realizes its vision to be the backbone of future metaverse-style systems by enabling developers to create virtual worlds that can support tens of thousands of concurrent users, digital assets across the world, and interconnect with a variety of virtual environments. Its activities extend beyond the entertainment sector to virtual events, esports and new social platforms, highlighting the role of foundational technologies in supporting the overall vision of a permanent digital world.
In addition to these international leaders, another generation of small, specialized companies is increasingly attracting attention for their contributions to the development of custom Metaverse applications and game development services.
Companies such as Suffescom Solutions Inc., NipsApp Game Studios, and Aetsoft offer custom solutions for metaverse creation, including AR/VR experiences, blockchain solutions, and enterprise-grade virtual applications. These companies operate in niche markets that require interactive platforms beyond regular games, such as virtual events, training simulations, and branded immersive experiences.
These serve to highlight how heterogeneous the ecosystem built around metaverse development is, as both consumer game worlds and enterprise applications can be built on immersive technologies and their application to business outcomes.
